Why doesn't doing the right things bring me peace?

[distracted]

), but I have finally had it with several family members and a family dynamic that seems to view me as the problem child and scapegoat. I posted many months ago about a sister who went into rages at me and my children. (The general advice here was to stay away from such out of control behavior). Since then, I’ve been informed by my father that she is justified in treating me that way, that I must be a hypocrite since my non-church going sisters ‘dont’ have these problems,’ that I’m not a very good mother (actually, most people think my kids are quite well-behaved, but my father has unrealistic expectations for kids, not to mention the difficult situation into which they were put), and so on. When I tried to point out that there were several other factors, he launched into yelling, too, and wouldn’t even consider that maybe there’s more going on than that my children and I are just horrible. He said the reason I don’t go off on people is because the rest of them never do anything annoying (no, I don’t go into rages because I’ve worked hard to be patient and accepting.)

?

wow… i can totally relate… not to the exact kind of abuse you are speaking of… but … well, that part about not liking your family. Some of them are very abusive, just not in the exact same way… but abuse is abuse…

I stayed away from my family for a long time, then recently saw them… but i had to have a GOOD LONG Talk with MYSELF befroe i did so… told myself not to have any expectations that anyone had singinicantly changed… etc… Well, i was OK and am now but… i still don’t expect anything, even though a few things about the visit were not so bad… not sure they’ve improved, just… not so bad … In any case, i don’t know where i am going from here w/ the family, but i don’t trust or really like my family except for maybe one… and that one is too closley involved w/ the others… don’t trust that one either… Tehy are nice one day and cold the next, etc…

i think that if people don’t want to change… and dont’ want to talk things out… the situation is hopeless… and staying away is absolutely the best thing to do…

it is absolutely NO wonder you feel that your faith is not bringing you peace!!! It is only normal / natural for you to be distubed when people/situations are so disturbing…

Have you tried spending a lot of time @ the Real presence in the Church? I just go tThere and quietly listen… don’t say anything to the Lord except maybe something here & there… He “tells” me amazing things that i cannot describe here… words just can’t explain… To me, this is the best thing to do about this kind of problem or any other… because Jesus knows the situation better than anyone… and cares more… He cares even more than YOU do… A person can know this in his/her head but not the heart… not totally… Some things are felt only in the Real Presence…

I will pray for you.

I do not think it is unChristian to stay th e *&^% away from these kinds of people… You probably know the scirpture about if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off & cast it from you… My family was causing me to stumble because i would get depressed and lethargic and disturbed & therefor, wouldn’t want to do anything for GOD… just sleep and… feel sorry for myself, etc… He showed me that they were causing me to be distubed… although there were a few other reasons also… Anyway… another thing is that people, generally, these days, are not very loving anyway… … In the Word it says that in the last days the love of many will grow cold (due to sin)…

… sadly…

also, the rosary lifts me above all ths human (inhuman) nonsense…

:knight2::heaven:

 

[soblessed]

in the last days the love of many will grow cold (due to sin)…

I see so much of this these days and it’s so sad and a little scary the way people are not just unloving but actually HOSTILE to others for no reason…road rage, campus shootings, murdering even those that ARE supposed to be your loved ones.

It gets crazier and crazier every day. It reminds me of one of the Marian appartitions, can’t remember which one, where Mary talks about pleading with the Lord to restrain His righteous anger and asking us to pray many rosaries and for us to plead with Him, too. How the Lord must weep when He looks on us now…what’s even scarier is how easy it is to fall into that pattern of rage. Many rosaries, guys, many prayers!

 

[distracted]

I see so much of this these days and it’s so sad and a little scary the way people are not just unloving but actually HOSTILE to others for no reason…road rage, campus shootings, murdering even those that ARE supposed to be your loved ones.

It gets crazier and crazier every day. It reminds me of one of the Marian appartitions, can’t remember which one, where Mary talks about pleading with the Lord to restrain His righteous anger and asking us to pray many rosaries and for us to plead with Him, too. How the Lord must weep when He looks on us now…what’s even scarier is how easy it is to fall into that pattern of rage. Many rosaries, guys, many prayers!

i don’t usually feel like asking God to restrain his justice… Frankly, i’m sick to death of all the evil & wouldn’t mind if God did something - except that i & others who try to live by his ways… would probably get "messed up " along with the “losers”… (sorry, i guess my bitterness is showing… There but for the grace of God go i and all that… )

but anyway, i totally agree w/ what you’re saying…

you bring up an interesting image of God weeping.

i heard someone say once that God doesn’t have emotions…

HUH???

If God can get angry (and in the Old Testament especially, He seems angry quite a lot… ) then why can’t he feel other things???

i DO believe He “weeps” or at least would… if he troubled himself to visit Earth and … well, if i were God, i would NOT do that…